Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jun 06, 2009 11:36 am With the handover seemingly happening soon, I'm starting to see things that I don't quite like about my first house (to-be)... so please allow me to just share a few things here 1. Roof pitch. Was thinking of having 25 degrees, then told by the contract presenter it saves money to have just 22.5 degrees. A new house being built next street has something like 30 degrees or more and that looks waaaay more attractive. Could probably use the extra space in the attic too, I suppose. 2. Bigger tiles. The CSR at N******* tiles was soooooo unhelpful, was not friendly, and didn't actually give us any useful advice. She just said things like: this is $$$, that is $$$, it's up to you. Now that the tiles are in place, although they don't look too bad, I began to regret the decision not to go for the bigger tiles. For that extra cost of a few hundred bucks, the whole impression when stepping into the house would be different. Probably would make it somewhat easier to sell too, say, 5-10 years from now? 3. Master bedroom too small. My stupid mistake! I should've just gone for the extra-sized master bedroom rather than the separate study room. The Master Bedroom is now going to be the same size with the apartment room I'm living in! By the way, does anyone know how much it will cost to tear down the wall between 2 rooms and relocate the door? 4. Should've asked for the Alfresco to be concreted, together with the base. I'm now losing sleep over how much extra I'll have to spend just for that bloody alfresco! The thing is, it doesn't sound too easy getting the right person to do the job. Anyone knows a good concreter in Melbourne? 5. Should've done the door knob upgrades, privacy kits (lock-sets to bedroom/bathrooms), flyscreen, and window locks myself. The markup is really outrageous! Bunnings stores sell a Gainsborough Trilock for $195. The builder charges $275 (and we're not getting the original set to keep - not that we may find it useful in short term, but we could probably sell it in ebay!). Not only that, what they call window locks do not look very convincing. I don't consider myself talented in breaking into others' property (and own property when getting locked out after forgetting to take the key with me), but looks to me I can use some simple tools to get through that so-called window locks! They're made out of plastics! And no! I'm not giving you my address, I know what you're thinking 6. Storage in laundry for broom, buckets, etc. Why didn't I think of that??? Looked inside yesterday and began to scratch my head, where in my house am I going to store them?? The problem is, the extended benchtop that comes with the promotion is taking the whole space and I won't be able to place an upright cabinet inside the laundry room! 7. Caesarstone on ensuite and bathroom benchtops - or simply pick a different laminex. Well that's it so far (PCI not done yet, still a few minor things to be fixed). Those mistakes cost me some money, others cost me emotionally. Hope I didn't bore you though, and thanks for allowing me to post some meaningless ranting here. Wish everyone building their house the very best of luck! Cheers, I.T. Re: Things I regret not having - or having in the contract 3Jun 06, 2009 12:05 pm We haven't even really started building yet and theres a few things I'd change.. 1. The way the sliding door slides in the rumpus room 2. The power points/tv/data points on a different side of the room 3. Power point to Master Bedroom located elsewhere 4. I wouldn't have translucent glazing on the windows.. They have been put in and they don't look right. 5. Leave the garage rear roller door in instead of having access at side of house.. now I can't figure out how to do my front landscaping without it looking silly 6. I would have had brick infill over garage door 7. Leave study as 4th bedroom and/or 8. Leave double doors to study entry That's all I can think of right now. Building with PD - Regent 23 Cascades on Clyde Estate HomeOne Building Thread - PCI Completed - 28th August. Handover - 11th September. Re: Things I regret not having - or having in the contract 4Jun 06, 2009 12:21 pm Maybe not quite as many windows in the main bedroom and in hindsight I'd have made the ensuite tiling to stop at the walk in robe rather than going to the end of it, I think it would have made the ensuite look a bit smaller and master bed a bit bigger. Laundry cupboards, I actually did think of it but figured it was an easy thing to do at a later stage. Maybe I should have got the builder to do a few more storage options in the BIR's (like a few draws or something) I think any further change I might have made would primarily have been a case of "if we had an unlimited budget" type scenario . . . like light fittings, although the standard ones grew on me pretty quick. Re: Things I regret not having - or having in the contract 5Jun 06, 2009 1:09 pm We were pretty fortunate to have designed our own home. There isn't a real lot I would change - actually can't think of a real lot at all. But we made sure that during our 2yrs planning to think of everything that we would want in a home - especially one we are never moving out of. Maybe the only thing would have been to shut my mouth and not go off at the CSR about all the errors we had encountered since one was in our favour (higher ceilings) and then she took them out of the plan. But at the end of the day I was happy with the way the house was designed in the beginning. Some things are worth waiting for. Re: Things I regret not having - or having in the contract 6Jun 06, 2009 4:41 pm Roof pitch to 28 degrees Stacked stone on pillars - i Can do this afterward but i could have borrowed that amount from the bank ( the amount of things to do after handover is getting getting bigger and bigger) Bi Fold doors to alfresco More lighting in electrical plan. Putting in a niche near the front entrance. AHHH a whole heap of things. Mabe I should just sell this one and start again....... JOKING!!!!! Im very happy with the things we have chosen. There are a few things we couldnt afford in the contract. So we tried to cut things out of the contract that we could do at a later time. BESIDES the roof pitch thing. That sucks nothing I can so about tha one now Living in Caloundra Thread****** Lovin my house all finished!!! Now tackling the HUGE task of the Garden- viewtopic.php?f=31&t=14782 Re: Things I regret not having - or having in the contract 7Jun 06, 2009 5:21 pm Corner Bi Fold door to the Alfresco 25 degree roof pitch Porcelain tiles to living areas Dimmer switches to Theatre room and master bedroom. Re: Things I regret not having - or having in the contract 8Jun 06, 2009 5:24 pm Hey! Mellybuilding: Don't know whether you saw Better Homes & Gardens on Friday night but Tara did a feature on DIY niches. Chances are all the details are in the magazine. It looked pretty straightforward (don't they always on tv? lol)...but I thought it might be worth you looking into -- their point being you don't have to install them at the time of building Pix Built a (highly) modified Allcastle Maxworth 38.7 in Sydney. Re: Things I regret not having - or having in the contract 9Jun 06, 2009 5:28 pm Pixelated Hey! Mellybuilding: Don't know whether you saw Better Homes & Gardens on Friday night but Tara did a feature on DIY niches. Chances are all the details are in the magazine. It looked pretty straightforward (don't they always on tv? lol)...but I thought it might be worth you looking into -- their point being you don't have to install them at the time of building Pix ohhh thanks . Ill jump on their website now and have a look. I will be a very happy girl!!! Living in Caloundra Thread****** Lovin my house all finished!!! Now tackling the HUGE task of the Garden- viewtopic.php?f=31&t=14782 Re: Things I regret not having - or having in the contract 10Jun 06, 2009 5:37 pm We still haven't built and I'm pulling my hair out we didnt' go for higher ceilings. With our builder, there is no 2590 height so its either 2400 or 2700 (the upgrade cost is $7000) - but in the scheme of things, we should have done it!! Building the 22sq Ashton Re: Things I regret not having - or having in the contract 11Jun 06, 2009 5:41 pm There's only two things I wish we had done differently and that's the size of the back window in the rumpus room. We should have gone bigger and matched the size of the window in our bedroom which is next to it. Also, we shouldn't have bothered moving the meter box and paying a large amount of $$ to do it as we have been stuck with having the gas meter on the other side anyway, which completely defeated the purpose of moving one of them I am happy with everything else so far. Blog: http://bluemistkids.blogspot.com "Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, and professionals built the Titanic." Re: Things I regret not having - or having in the contract 12Jun 06, 2009 5:52 pm We are yet to sign the contract so we have time to adjust anything and a delay would not be an issue as we have a while to wait for titles. I had thought about a broom cupboard in the laundry (our one is in the hall which is fine) but my other half says oh we can put it in later but now I wonder do we just add it on the bill now?? We have requested to change from plain concrete for the driveway to stamped and my other half was having issues with our decision to change the rumpus to an alfresco but I think its more about his desire to have a pool table We are still waiting for a few things to be amended including some things we thought about long after our colours appointment. I'm not sure if we thought of everything but there is no way to know - this thread is a great idea though. You never know what someone will mention to make you go ahhhhh !! Land: Titles 27/10/2009 - settled 9/11/2009 House Design: Talbot 28 (Contemporary Façade) Estimated move in date April 2010 ... ok maybe June 2010 with any luck Site Start 22/01/10 - 20/08/10 Handover!! Sandarra Facebook Group Re: Things I regret not having - or having in the contract 13Jun 06, 2009 6:01 pm i know how you feel jolie i hadn't worried about higher ceilings until i went to a new display home in my estate today and the 9 foot ceilings looked great - they made the smaller bedrooms look HUGE!! I haven't signed contracts yet, but know that i can't squeeze higher ceilings into the budget - i do have some other things i am worried about, so any opinions would be appreciated - i have included a 1200 wide XS24 front door in my contract - $590.00 upgrade but this is not a pivot and is only on hinges - i am concerned that the door will be too heavy for hinges, and am considering changing back to a standard front door and adding full glass sidelights to each side of the door. the money saved would pay for... - 1.2m of overhead cupboards to the laundry - i have already added 1.2m of underbench cupboards and a stainless steel sink instead of the standard tub - is the upgrade to a timberlook garage door really worth it? the colour scheme that i have chosen (full render in dune, barramundi roof tiles, stained front door, dark blue/purplish feature render and grey stack stone) lends itself to a timberlook garage door as a feature but i am unsure if it is worth the extra $600.00? (i might post this in my thread aswell - it might be better suited there ) i just had to sympathise with jolie re: the ceilings we can cry together 2014 - Prepping to build the Soho 4 with Plantation homes, industrial style 2009 - Built the Brampton with Coral Homes viewtopic.php?f=31&t=15399&start=280 Re: Things I regret not having - or having in the contract 14Jun 06, 2009 6:07 pm Quote: 1.2m of overhead cupboards to the laundry - i have already added 1.2m of underbench cupboards and a stainless steel sink instead of the standard tub Building with Coral, what is the standard sink/tub in the laundry if it is not stainless steel??? Stainless steel troughs are the norm here, standard with our builder and every other builder as far as I know - I've not seen a laundry trough other than stainless steel, except in very old houses - our old house, built in 1959 had a cement trough until we renovated laundry. Just curious Re: Things I regret not having - or having in the contract 15Jun 06, 2009 6:16 pm maybe i mean silver stainless steel trough the standard one is white...is this normal? the standard is definitely not cement though sorry! 2014 - Prepping to build the Soho 4 with Plantation homes, industrial style 2009 - Built the Brampton with Coral Homes viewtopic.php?f=31&t=15399&start=280 Re: Things I regret not having - or having in the contract 16Jun 06, 2009 7:02 pm We have tried to be prepared for everything. We asked for the following additions to our house (am writing them here in case it helps someone else out): shelf/drawer towers in every wardrobe and additional shelf up high in wardrobes for extra storage A huge 4 door cupboard along entire rear wall of garage - all shelved for storage Very large laundry cupboard - one side shelved, one side mostly vacant for vacuum cleaner/ironing board etc Underbench and overhead cupboards in laundry Concreting to alfresco, including paths and concreting on blind side of house Roofing to our alfresco so we can sit out there in any weather Shed Paving Security doors Powder coated fence Brick piers/letterbox Very large pot drawers x 4 Large kitchen drawers for plates/crockery x 3 All floor tiles sealed to prevent grount staining Insulation between downstairs and upstairs (for sound proofing) We removed a 5th bedroom to make the other bedrooms bigger - they're huge! 2 Quad powerpoints behind where I know our desk will go Extra downlights above where I know our piano will go Our house also comes with solar boosted hot water Double glazing to all windows I'm sure there's heaps of things I wish I had have changed once I move in...but can't think of any right now Re: Things I regret not having - or having in the contract 17Jun 06, 2009 7:32 pm #1. The BIGGEST wish that I regret is not planning for polished concrete early in the project - but that ship has long sailed so there's no point dwelling on it. #2. I really wish I'd thought of putting a window in the laundry. We still don't have a clothes line yet, so the dryer is working over time. I have to keep the back door open for ventilation while its on. A window would have been easier than having to look for my house key every time I turn the dryer on to unlock the door. Oh well... #3. A bigger budget so we could have sooooo many other little things that we can really live without but would otherwise be nice to have. Gotta draw the line somewhere though. The best thing we did include in the contract was making the house wider to put a wardrobe in the study and a huge cupboard along one wall of the kids rumpus. Its full of toys/games/kids junk, and in the week we've been here, they've hardly left that room while they enjoy rediscovering games they couldn't access previously. The peace and quite is wonderful too Re: Things I regret not having - or having in the contract 18Jun 06, 2009 7:45 pm Building with Coral 2009 maybe i mean silver stainless steel trough the standard one is white...is this normal? the standard is definitely not cement though sorry! Oh well, ours is silver stainless steel and this is normal in SA, we didnt have to upgrade to this. Yes, I think those old cement ones are a relic from the long gone past - mind you, ours had a long life as a water trough for chickens after retiring from laundry service Re: Things I regret not having - or having in the contract 19Jun 06, 2009 9:20 pm Oh Jess, you're such a gem .. thanks for the moral support. I have been meaning to add my colour selections (as you did ask the other day but have had the busiest time at work this week - will get to it soon though). You know Jess, one thing a wise person wrote once on the thread, when it comes to upgrades, faced with budgetary constraints, go for what will be impossible to change later. So I should have taken that advice to heart a bit more .. but that is what I am passing on to you. If you really love the 9ft ceilings, then it may be worth saricficing the door or cuprboard that can be added later - I am sure your home will look great which ever way though.. Infortheexperience, this a great thread by the way, and will be so useful for a lot of first-time builders... Building the 22sq Ashton Re: Things I regret not having - or having in the contract 20Jun 06, 2009 9:42 pm Helyn Quote: 1.2m of overhead cupboards to the laundry - i have already added 1.2m of underbench cupboards and a stainless steel sink instead of the standard tub Building with Coral, what is the standard sink/tub in the laundry if it is not stainless steel??? Stainless steel troughs are the norm here, standard with our builder and every other builder as far as I know - I've not seen a laundry trough other than stainless steel, except in very old houses - our old house, built in 1959 had a cement trough until we renovated laundry. Just curious We havent upgraded laundry tub/sink and the standard with our builder is white polymer. Building the 22sq Ashton You talk about deletions, are they variations or PS and PC adjustments? pleas list them 1 16557 1) I had requested R6 ceiling insualtion batts, however I noticed that on some areas there are huge gaps which will allow hot air to sweep in, and also noticed black/grey… 0 3597 traditional gable roof facade - Have you did the dark and light gray color combination in facade with gray stone in facade… 0 4211 |